USA Boxing has offered to stage the rearranged Americas Olympic qualifying boxing tournament in Colorado Springs should Argentina decide not to go ahead with the event.
The tournament, the final of four continental qualifiers, was due to run from March 26-April 3 in Buenos Aires but was called off after the Argentine government cancelled all international events in the country a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The Tokyo Olympics has now been put back to the summer of 2021. So far two qualification tournaments have been completed – the Africa and Asia/Oceania events – while the European qualifier in London was suspended after three days.
It is understood that the Boxing Task Force, which is running Olympic boxing on behalf of the IOC after AIBA was barred, will hope to reschedule the European and Americas events for before Christmas, allowing the final world qualifier for anyone who does not make it through the continental events - which was due to have taken place on the outskirts of Paris in May – to be held early next year.
The Argentina organisers will be given the option to restage the Americas tournament, but should they be unable to hold the event, USA Boxing have offered to put it on near their Colorado Springs headquarters. They had previously offered after the Argentinian event was initially called off.
When the London tournament was suspended, UK Sport, the government funding body that backed it, expressed an interest in staging the remainder of the event, although no decisions are likely until the worldwide lockdown finishes.
So far, 114 boxers have booked their place at the Tokyo Games. They have all been assured that their places are safe.